The present invention relates to apparatus for temporary storage of plain or filter tipped cigarettes, filter rod sections or analogous articles which constitute or form part of rod-shaped smokers' products. Such apparatus (also known as reservoir systems) are often used between one or more producing and one or more consuming or processing machines for temporary storage of rod-shaped articles when the output of the producing machine or machines exceeds the requirements of the processing machine or machines as well as for admission of articles to the processing machine or machines when the requirements of such machine or machines exceed the output of the producing machine or machines. Typical examples of producing machines which can supply articles to apparatus of the class to which the present invention pertains are machines for the making of filter rod sections or filter plugs which must be cured after they issue from the filter rod making machine or machines in order to allow for complete or sufficient setting of the customary plasticizing agent before the filter rod sections are introduced into the hopper of a filter tipping machine. It is also possible to employ such apparatus for temporary storage of plain or filter cigarettes prior to their admission into the magazine or hopper of a packing machine. Apparatus of the just outlined character are manufactured by the assignee of the present application and are known as Resy reservoir systems.
The provision of a reservoir system between one or more producing and one or more consuming or processing machines is becoming increasingly popular because the output of cigarette making, filter tipping, filter rod making and like producing machines is on the increase, practically from year to year. The output amounts to many thousands of rod-shaped articles per minute; therefore, substantial losses in output are incurred if the producing machine or machines must be arrested, even for very short intervals of time. Furthermore, many producing machines are constructed and assembled in such a way that the articles which are turned out immediately after resumption of the operation must be discarded in order to avoid entry of defective or potentially defective articles into the processing machine or machines. Analogously, losses in the output are very substantial when a processing machine must be arrested or must operate at less than maximum speed due to the failure of the producing machine or machines to deliver requisite quantities of rod-shaped articles. In such situations, the reservoir system supplements the temporarily reduced output of the producing machine or machines to thus ensure that the processing machine or machines can operate at full speed, at least for a certain interval of time which normally suffices to eliminate the cause or causes of malfunction of the producing machine or machines.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1,957,002 discloses a reservoir system which serves for temporary storage of cigarettes. A stack of cigarettes is loosely supported by a curved conveyor belt which forms loops and moves up and down about upright columns. A drawback of the just described conventional reservoir system is that the cigarettes are likely to change their positions, especially in the curves, so that they are often defaced, deformed or otherwise damaged. Moreover, the speed at which the conveyor can be driven is limited in order to avoid the just mentioned undesirable shifting of cigarettes which form the stack. The ends of the cigarettes are free to exchange moisture with the surrounding atmosphere. As a rule, such exchange of moisture leads to a reduction of the moisture content of tobacco at the ends of the cigarettes with the result that the dried particles of tobacco exhibit the tendency to escape and to contaminate certain components of the production line, namely, the reservoir system and/or the machine or machines which follow. Finally, the just discussed conventional reservoir system exhibits the drawback that its capacity is limited due to the fact that the conveyor is looped about upright columns. Thus, the maximum height of the reservoir system depends on the distance between the floor and the ceiling in the hall in which the reservoir system is installed.